Display rack clamp



March 3, 1970 Filed July 5, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 f K O O \y :1 Q U F1 0 H O 11 \SD 1 11 OHHIHIIHI 0 J 12 12 15 L16 j 16 Fig.1 Fig.2

INVENTOR KARL B. HUMMEL BY wwmz mz%wr'gzqiv ATTORNEYS March 3, 1970 K. B. HUMMEL 3,498,469

DISPLAY RACK CLAMP Filed July 5, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR KARL B. HUMMEL BY M04644, MM, 22% 'W ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,498,469 DISPLAY RACK CLAMP Karl B. Hummel, Crawfordsville, Ind., assignor to Sommer Metalcraft Corporation, Crawfordsville, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Filed July 5, 1968, Ser. No. 742,775 Int. Cl. A47b 29/00 US. Cl. 211-71 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A clamping device for a display rack including a snapon spring steel gripping portion which resiliently holds an end zone of the device against the bar to grip an object being displayed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to a clamping device for a display rack.

Description of the prior art At least some of the prior art is shown in US. Patents 2,116,386 to Copeland, 2,618,033 to Tinnerman, 2,583,092 to Dreyfus and 2,677,468 to Dreyfus. The prior art is also illustrated in US. Patent 2,547,531 to Melvin et al. which shows a product that has been manufactured for many years by applicants employer and has proved commercially successful. One disadvantage of the spring clip of the Melvin patent is the fact that the spring clips must be threaded on the support bar and that this threading must be accomplished before the bars of the rack are completely assembled or welded together. This feature is a disadvantage for a number of reasons.

First, the holding of the spring clips with their legs parallel for an extended period of time suflicient to string or thread them on the bar is hard on the hands of the assembler. As a practical matter approximately one-half of the women hired to assemble the rack of the patent quit their jobs within a week because of the finger fatigue caused by the Melvin spring clip. Naturally this fatigue is something that is no longer a problem as one gets used to the procedure but this does not prevent the employee turnover. Second, as a practical matter a broken spring clip of the Melvin patent cannot be replaced because rethreading of the new spring clip would involve breaking apart the welded together bars and rewelding of those bars together after the broken spring clip is replaced. Consequently, there is room for improvement in the Melvin spring clip.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One embodiment of this invention might include in a clamping device for a display rack having a support bar, said device including a generally C-shaped spring member having opposed, spaced apart legs, each of said legs having an opening therethrough capable of receiving said bar, one of said legs having an outer bend spaced outwardly from its said opening from which outer bend a portion of the leg extends oppositely away from the other leg for a distance along said bar and to abut the bar by an end zone spaced from said bend, and a lever fixed to said leg portion to extend at least beyond said bend in a direction toward but spaced forwardly from the outer end of said other leg; the improvement which comprises said C-shaped spring member having formed therein a passage extending between and joining said openings, said passage having a width slightly less than the width of 3,498,469 Patented Mar. 3, 1970 ice said openings so as to define projections extending toward one another between said openings, said projections being proportioned to snap over said bar and to bear against said bar to resiliently hold said end zone against said bar.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved spring clip.

Another object of this invention is to provide a spring clip for use on a display rack which spring clip is quickly, easily and conveniently replacable.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a spring clip which can be easily removed and replaced on a display rack.

Related objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims.

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of a display rack embodying the present invention.

1 FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the display rack of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a spring clip embodying the present invention and usable on the display rack of FIGURES 1 and 2.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary rear elevation of a portion of the structure illustrated in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a vertical section taken along the line 22 of FIGURE 4 in the direction of the arrows.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawing and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is illustrated a display rack 10 having mounted thereon a plurality of spring clips 11 'which are usable to grip a bag such as the bag 12 shown in FIGURES 1 and 2. The display rack 10 includes a plurality of vertical rods 13 which are welded to a horizontal supporting rod 15 and a base rod 16 to form the rack. The two outside rods 13 are coupled together in a U-shaped configuration by the horizontal top 14 to which is also secured the center vertical rod 13. An illustrative one of the spring clips 11 is illustrated in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5 and will be described as representative of all the spring clips 11.

The spring clip 11 includes a C-shaped spring member 20 having opposed spaced aparts legs 21A and 21B. Each of the legs 21A and 21B has an opening 22 therethrough which receives the vertical bar 13. The leg 21B has an outer bend 25 which is spaced outwardly from the opening 22 in the leg 21B and from which outer bend a portion 26 of the leg extends oppositely away from the leg 21A for a distance along the bar 13 to abut the bar by an end zone 27 spaced from the outer bend 25.

A lever 30 is fixed to and integral with the leg portion 21B and extends upwardly beyond the outer bend 25 in a direction toward but spaced forwardly from the outer end of the other leg 21A. It will be noted that the leg or lever 30 includes a recess 31 which extends longitudinally of the lever 30 and which reinforces the lever 30 so that pressing of the upper portion 32 of the lever 30 causes the end zone 27 to be moved away from the bar 13 thus releasing an object such as the bag 12.

Referring to FIGURE 3, it can be seen that the C- shaped spring member 20 has formed therein a passage 35 which extends between and joins the openings 22. The passage 35 has a width which is only slightly less than the width of the opening 22 so as to define projections 36 extending toward one another and positioned between the openings 22. The projections are proportioned to snap over the bar 13 and to bear against the bar 13 so as to resiliently hold the end zone 27 against the bar.

It can be appreciated that it is not necessary to string or thread the spring clips 11 onto the vertical bars 13. Instead, the spring clips 11 are placed on the vertical bars 13 by forcing the legs 21A and 21B into approxi mate parallelism and by snapping the projections 36 over and around the bar 13 so that the bar passes through the passage 35. The openings 22 each have a size and configuration which is similar to the cross sectional area of the bar 13 but which is greater than the cross sectional area of the bar. Thus, when the legs 21A and 21B are released they assume the position illustrated in FIG- URES 4 and causing the projections 36 to be forced against the bar and causing the end zone 27 to be forced against the bar to grip an object, bag or the like.

It will be evident from the above description that the present invention provides an improved spring clip 'which can be easily removed and replaced on a display rack. Thus, when the rack is completely welded together with its various bars 13, 16 and 15, it is not necessary to string or thread the spring clip 11 onto the rack but instead the vertical bar is forced through the passage into the openings 22. It will also be evident that the present invention provides a spring clip which is easier to place on a display rack because the C-shaped spring portion 20 of the spring clip need not be held with its legs in parallel relation for as long a period of time as required in the prior art device.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims are also desired to be protected.

The invention claimed is:

1. In a clamping device for a display rack having a support bar, said device including a generally C-shaped spring member having opposed, spaced apart legs, each of said legs having an opening therethrough capable of receiving said bar, one of said legs having an outer bend spaced outwardly from its said opening from which outer bend a portion of the leg extends oppositely away from the other leg for a distance along said bar and to abut the bar by an end zone spaced from said bend, and a lever fixed to said leg portion to extend at least beyond said bend in a direction toward but spaced forwardly from the outer end of said other leg; the improvement which comprises said C-shaped spring member having formed therein a passage extending between and joining said openings, said passage having a width slightly less than the width of said openings so as to define projections extending toward one another between said openings, said projections being proportioned to snap over said bar and to bear against said bar to resiliently hold said end zone against said bar.

2. The clamping device of claim 1 wherein said projections are in engagement with said bar and said portion of said leg has a resilient bias therein holding said end zone against said bar.

3. The clamping device of claim 2 wherein said openings each have a size and configuration similar to the cross sectional area of said bar but greater than said cross sectional area, said bar to be received into said openings by forcing said legs into approximate parallelism and snapping said projections over said bar so that said bar passes through said passage, said device being held in position on said bar by releasing the legs to permit said projections to grip the bar.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,116,386 5/1938 Copeland 24259 2,547,531 4/1951 Melvin et a1. 24259 2,583,092 1/1952 Dreyfus 211 X 2,630,923 3/1953 Makar 2ll7l 2,677,468 5/1954 Dreyfus 21171 DAVID H. BROWN, Primary Examiner U.S. C1. X.R. 

